a new happening - the Traveling Terabyte Project

[Deviant Ollam]

so, as some may recall i had a pretty awful system failure on one of my boxes recently. a RAID array went down and i lost 700+ GB of data. (for those who are curious about how my RAID5 array could have taken such a tremendous shit, i've looked through some log files and it seems that one of the six disks experienced a circuitry failure which was followed by another drive being hit by a mechanical failure later in the day. my best guess is that the drive with bad circuitry kept appearing/disappearing causing my controller, which supports hot swap, to constantly rebuild and resync the array. the drive which was on shaky legs mechanically just couldn't keep up and eventually had a heart attack)

however, the process of recovering from this mess has filled me with a certain joy and gratitude that cannot be properly placed into words. i am so overwhelmingly pleased at being a part of this community... its values of preparedness and taking pride in setting something up right led to my having significant backups which most users wouldn't normally have (i probably restored more than 80% of what was lost from backup copies in-house) but, even more than that, i was blown away by the immediate offers of support and FTP/SSH access to others' boxes where i might find copies of files lost from my personal music and video collection.

it is with this admiration and gratitude that i am embarking on a rather large project of data sharing geared towards helping others enjoy and share content in the ways that got my file server back on its feet so quickly.

a client client of mine wanted a new data storage system. when ordering disks i took note of the fact that i was purchasing so many from the vendor that i was getting a discount. so, i chose to tack an additional two drives on the invoice out of pocket. since these were 500 Gigabyte drives, that's a hell of a lot of space that i'm going to have at my disposal. what i plan to do is gather up as much content as i can -- both from my huge archive and from offerings by friends -- and send it around on a journey to those in the community who are away from their homes and/or out of touch with their usual conduits of content.

the DefCon people are doing a great job getting old talks and videos online, the shmoocon content is out there, there are remarkable new tools like Rainbow Tables and the WPA variant known as coWPAtty... but so many of these terrific things are just not accessible to some people since they're without the resources to obtain them. the Travelling Terabyte Project could change all that.

at first, i plan to gear the process towards getting the traveling drives out to people who are in the service or otherwise deployed away from home without any choice in the matter. i know that ASTCell and ThePrez are both unlikely attendees this year since they are on active duty right now. Virosa will not be able to make it to las vegas since he will be visiting his brother who is deployed in the mideast. Panthera, while not serving in uniform, is also assigned to the sandbox at present and not able to come to DC14. this is a project whereby these great guys, and any others who are in similar situations, can hopefully remain as connected to the community as possible.

in the coming few weeks while i get things started, those who are likely recipients of the TTB drives should feel free to PM or email me with requests for anything specific that they would hope to see on the drives. i'll pull any strings i can (or just push loads of packets across my cable modem) to see that the drives have what you may be craving.

on another note (and someone like Jur1st should correct me if i'm wrong here) this is 100% legal, i believe (since i don't want to be thought of as breaking the forum rule "do not use the forums to publicly discuss lawbreaking")... no different from a group of friends borrowing each others VHS tapes or CDs for the weekend.

more news will come as things get underway. for now... i'd love suggestions and input. should the drives be just bare IDE drives and stuck in recipients' boxes? should i stick them in enclosures? what kind? USB2 or FireWire? (go for speed or maximum potential compatibility?) if anyone wants to recommend a particularly affordable but reliable enclosure, i'm all ears.

those whose names i mentioned first will be at the top of this list, but i'd like to keep the project going to as many of our community as possible. please let me know of anyone else who won't be able to join us in vegas this year and we'll see what we can do when it comes to bringing a little piece of DefCon to them instead.

[Salem]

I happen to think that this is an awesome idea. Having several friends (albeit not techy at all) stationed in the sandbox, a method of getting info and archives to them will be, I'm sure, appreciated.

Some ideas for stuff on the drive:

The DCMC filler from DC13. Stuff like that is sure to bring smiles to the soldiers faces.
ISO's. Linux distros, useful programs, etc.
Movies, music, games. All of which attained legally of course.

As far as the drives go, I think that having them in usb2 or firewire enclosures would be best. Safest for the drives too, with the shock/impact resistance they would privde and keeping them clean.

[renderman]

I would double check with the rules for sending stuff to personelle deployed overseas. They usually have to respect local culture and I think some the content of DCTV could be considered *AHEM* indecent. Some people might have to wait till they returned from overseas.

That said, I think that recieving a care package with a terrabyte of fun stuff would be one helluva thing to get and copy what's of interest (upcoming WPA table release distribution problems not withstanding).

[converge]

Deviant: having just restored 76% of our previous 1.1T after a two drive failure on our home raid5-based data box, 4.29GB at a time from backup dvds.. I feel your pain.

[Thorn]

... <snip>

more news will come as things get underway. for now... i'd love suggestions and input. should the drives be just bare IDE drives and stuck in recipients' boxes? should i stick them in enclosures? what kind? USB2 or FireWire? (go for speed or maximum potential compatibility?) if anyone wants to recommend a particularly affordable but reliable enclosure, i'm all ears.

... <snip>

Great idea, Deviant.

I'd highly recommend a Pelican case. My experience with these cases goes back over 20 years, and in all that time I've never had one fail. I've used them for SCUBA gear, firearms, camera/video gear, and most recently, computer hardware. They are damned near impossible to break, are shippable, lockable, watertight and buoyant. The interior foam is easily shaped to fit whatever equipment is going to be carried. You can find them in sports stores (SCUBA & canoeing/kayaking stores especially) and camera stores.

My suggestion for HDs is for USB 2.0 drives. They can be used almost univerally, whether by someone with a despktop, laptop, or some other setup. Bare IDE HDs would be useless to someone with a laptop, and Firewire isn't quite as ubiquitous as USB. I use and like the Maxtor OneTouch II USB drives. The have sturdy aluminum cases and support USB 2.0 and 1.1. Some models have Firewire in addition to the USB. These drives also use work well with the Linksys NLSU. You may recall I had an NLSU and a OneTouch at shmoocon, and was using it to distribute the WPA tables. That equipment was transported to and from shmoocon in a Pelican 1200 case.

During a recent trip, I had a concern about disaster backups in case my place suffered some catastrophe when I was an ocean away. My solution was to transport two 200GB OneTouch II drives drives in a Pelican 1200 case offsite to a location 300 miles from home. The 1200 case carried the two HDs, power supplies and USB cables quite comfortably.

[Deviant Ollam]

Pelican case

yes, everyone whom i know mentions them as superior to anything else out there. i had no idea the smaller ones were so reasonable. the 1120 you linked to is onle about $30! too bad their rifle cases are $300. (although it appears one can buy them for under $200 through third party vendors)

USB 2.0 drives. They can be used almost univerally, whether by someone with a despktop, laptop, or some other setup. Bare IDE HDs would be useless to someone with a laptop, and Firewire isn't quite as ubiquitous as USB.

yeah, i can see how USB is the best option there. if i can find affordable enclosures which support both USB and FireWire that would be pretty great.

You may recall I had an NLSU and a OneTouch at shmoocon, and was using it to distribute the WPA tables. That equipment was transported to and from shmoocon in a Pelican 1200 case.

yeah, that was a nice setup. the NLSU is a pretty spiffy unit. put that together with a small access point and one has the makings for a pretty sweet "now you see it, now you don't" sort of distribution tool for illicit content if governments ever start outlawing specific material. imagine... just pushing a baby stroller around a city park, while all the people in the area ferverishly download subversive music, uncensored documentary films, and MP3s of speeches by jailed activists.

My solution was to transport two 200GB OneTouch II drives drives in a Pelican 1200 case offsite to a location 300 miles from home. The 1200 case carried the two HDs, power supplies and USB cables quite comfortably.

smart move. i've done similar things in the past, but never with such solid planning. my measures are pretty half-assed compared to yours, actually.

now the question becomes... what about filesystems? i believe that drives this large are incapable of being formatted with anything FAT-based. we could use NTFS... Mac and *NIX boxes have pretty decent support for NTFS. this is a bit of a one-way street, however, since win32 systems don't tend to have naitive support for other filesystems. are there any other options that work better for cross-system disk drive support?

[Thorn]

yeah, that was a nice setup. the NLSU is a pretty spiffy unit. put that together with a small access point and one has the makings for a pretty sweet "now you see it, now you don't" sort of distribution tool for illicit content if governments ever start outlawing specific material. imagine... just pushing a baby stroller around a city park, while all the people in the area ferverishly download subversive music, uncensored documentary films, and MP3s of speeches by jailed activists.

Similar systems have been discussed, but now it's getting to the point where such covert distribution setups can almost be plug and play. Add car battery and an inverter, and you could be up and running inside of a hour.

smart move. i've done similar things in the past, but never with such solid planning. my measures are pretty half-assed compared to yours, actually.

It wasn't so much "solid planning", as it was panic at the thought of losing my client files. That, and I had all the materials on hand.

now the question becomes... what about filesystems? i believe that drives this large are incapable of being formatted with anything FAT-based. we could use NTFS... Mac and *NIX boxes have pretty decent support for NTFS. this is a bit of a one-way street, however, since win32 systems don't tend to have naitive support for other filesystems. are there any other options that work better for cross-system disk drive support?

Sure you can go with NTFS as you descibed, or go with EXT2. In the case of a Win32 user, they can mount the EXT2 volumes using the Ext2 File System Driver for NT/2K/XP.

You could even format a small partition with NTFS, include the driver and readme, as well as any other Win32 utilities that stike you as being needed prior to mounting the EXT2 volumes. That might give you the best of both worlds.

[renderman]

yeah, that was a nice setup. the NLSU is a pretty spiffy unit. put that together with a small access point and one has the makings for a pretty sweet "now you see it, now you don't" sort of distribution tool for illicit content if governments ever start outlawing specific material. imagine... just pushing a baby stroller around a city park, while all the people in the area ferverishly download subversive music, uncensored documentary films, and MP3s of speeches by jailed activists.

Damn, you read my mind again. Stay tuned to my projects.

Sure you can go with NTFS as you descibed, or go with EXT2. In the case of a Win32 user, they can mount the EXT2 volumes using the Ext2 File System Driver for NT/2K/XP.

You could even format a small partition with NTFS, include the driver and readme, as well as any other Win32 utilities that stike you as being needed prior to mounting the EXT2 volumes. That might give you the best of both worlds.

What I might suggest is a small FAT partition on the drive with win32 utilities for reading the larger EXT2 partition. This way everything you need is right there and accessable. Useful if it ends up in a place without a reliable internet connection.

[astcell]

Almosat everyone going to the sandbox took a laptop with them. Now laptops take 110v or 220v, so there is no need for a power transformer when traveling. But if this drive you have takes 110v only, you may wish to include a power converter as an option for the places that require 220v.

By the way, GREAT IDEA! See if you can record the sounds too, that really adds depth.

[theprez98]

I don't get to the forums nearly as much as I'd like, but I agree with astcell that this is a great idea.

The potential for any type of computer gear to get beat up over here is very likely. I'm surprised my laptop is still functioning with all the sand, dust and dirt in and on it. There is just no easy way to keep your stuff clean.

You'd absolutely need something like Thorn suggested as protection.

Also consider the heat. It's currently in the 110's here in Baghdad in early June. You can expect that to go even higher through July and August.

Finally let me say how cool it is that you guys are going to such lengths to make us feel at home. Shmoo this year was my first con. Last year and now this year, my job will prevent me from getting to DC. I was just getting really comfortable meeting everyone and now of course I'm playing in the sand with the Army. You guys are too awesome. It's a long ways off but I can't wait to come home and drink heavily with you all. ;-)

[astcell]

At last Defcon I told Renderman I was being mobilized and he offered me sanctuary in Canada. Interesting, because I was born there.

You are right prez98, the way these folks think of us is just incredibly awesome. It would be so easy for us to just miss out and no one notice our absence. But that's not the kind of people we have here. I'm proud as a father.

[renderman]

At last Defcon I told Renderman I was being mobilized and he offered me sanctuary in Canada. Interesting, because I was born there.

You are right prez98, the way these folks think of us is just incredibly awesome. It would be so easy for us to just miss out and no one notice our absence. But that's not the kind of people we have here. I'm proud as a father.

Not to get on a political tangent or anything, but the offer stands and is extended to anyone in the forces who needs 'sanctuary'.

That said, I still have respect for those serving and thier attention to duty. I may not agree with what you are doing and why you are there, but that does not mean I don't respect you as a person and any hardships that might come with deployment.

Ok, that said, one further idea on the travelling Terabyte (or should that be Terra Byte as it will likely be making it's way around the world)

There are a tonne of portable NAS boxes on the market lately that handle automatic RAID, etc. If this thing is going to be shipped all over hells creation it might be sensible to make it a half terabyte and just mirror it. That way if something happens and a drive craters, it can be replaced,rebuilt and continue it's journey without fear of data loss from shaved ape shipping companies.

Edit: Have we got a headcount on who and how many regulars are going to be deployed during con?

[Deviant Ollam]

updated news - drives have arrived!

actually, they fucking arrived two goddamn weeks ago but no one at the school told my IT dept. someone at the front desk signed for them (a huge allottment of 500 Giggers worth thousands) and left them in the foyer. then someone else noticed them, realized they were valuable and brought them right up to my office. hah! what a foolish person you are if you thought they did that. no, they noticed them, realized they were valuable... and locked them in the office of the headmaster's secretary without telling me.

it was only after a variety of phone calls to the vendor and the school district offices who paid most of the bill that someone got me a tracking number... which revealed when they actually arrived and who had signed for them. i spent the rest of yesterday doing a sherlock holmes routine, tracking the clues that led me to the package.

in any case, these are the enclosures i'm thinking about getting. i would ask if anyone has used them before, but this is a type of peripheral where the market has little reputation built up. all enclosures tend to be no-name brands and the product offerings vary from month to month it seems. still, i'm hoping for the best outcome. what are the chances of Linux/Unix driver support? that is my main concern. many of these units are supported even if they don't advertise it... but i'd like more assurances than i'm seeing.

next steps:

1. format with EXT file system
2. acquire pelican case
3. add all my content
4. send to eric michaud for some of his content
5. send to someone to add past defcon content
6. formulate list of recipients overseas
7. start shipping 'round the world

[bascule]

Re: a new happening - the Traveling Terabyte Project

I expect terabyte drives based on perpendicular recording technology are less than a year away

[theprez98]

Re: a new happening - the Traveling Terabyte Project

I wouldn't even want to guess how long it would take to get mail to this place!